Welcome to sojournmusic.com’s weekly worship music set list review & service recap. You’ll not only read a list of the songs we led following the Call To Worship, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy. You can find links to the to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week in the Worship Blog Carnival at theworshipcommunity.com. And you can learn about some of the songs we sing at Sojourn Gathered each week in advance of the Sunday service by reading my “Getting Ready For Sunday” post each Thursday at Sojourn’s online journal, TravelBlog.
Photos this week from Sojourn’s East campus, courtesy Allison Rushing.
Call to Worship:
Sometimes it’s a fearful thing for us to go to church. Sometimes it’s a fearful thing to even pray or sing. For some of us, it’s easy to feel unworthy – like we don’t belong in God’s presence, or amongst God’s people. But throughout history, God has demonstrated his love for people like you and me – sinners, wanderers, spiritual orphans. Hear the word of the lord.
When we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our own lives.
But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law.
Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage.
You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!”
Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. – Galatians 4:3-7 – The Message
Song: All You Saints by Brooks Ritter and Mike Cosper, based on Gadsby hymn #624.
Confession:
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide, and too deep to undo.
Forgive us of the sins we fear to speak aloud
what our hearts can no longer bear.
Set us free from a past that we cannot change;
open to us a future in which we can be changed.
Lord, grant us grace to grow more and more like Jesus;
through Jesus, the light of the world. Lord we believe, help our unbelief. Amen.
- Adapted from The Worship Sourcebook
Song: Satisfied in You written by Brian Eichelberger.
Song: Begone Unbelief written by John Newtown and Indelible Grace founder Kevin Twit.
Assurance:
Hear God’s word:
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.
Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. —Romans 8:15-17
As brothers and sisters, let’s extend a warm welcome to one another!
Giving:
The Apostle Paul gives inspiring words for us today as he describes a people in need who desired to give generously to the glory of God:
They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. -2 Cor. 8:2-5
People who had very little gave abundantly and generously because they didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to contribute to God’s mission. May the Lord give us hearts with the same spirit of generosity for the sake of the Gospel. Let’s pray:
Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us— our selves, our time, and our possessions—signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of him who offered himself for us— Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Then our pastor preached a sermon on Cain and Abel from our Genesis sermon series. You can hear Sojourn sermons in theSojourn Church iTunes podcast or in the Sermon Resource library at sojournchurch.com. At some of our campuses we were privileged to hear the sermon from church planting residents, like Rusty McKie pictured here, our East campus church planting resident.
Song: There is a Fountain written by William Cowper. This classic hymn of the faith was our Communion hymn this week.
Song: All I Have is Christ written by Jordan Kauflin of the Na Band. You can read my “songwriting analysis” of this great original worship song at the My Song In The Night blog.
Reading:
Christ’s blood grants us a right standing with God and a place in His eternal family:
We have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. We have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. We have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. We have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks a better word of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. – Hebrews 12:23-24
Song: Nothing but the Blood written by Matt Redman. We sang this one as our weekly song for the Sending.
Benediction:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you!
- Rom. 15:13
